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Just being able to keep your insurance for your family after retirement is a benefit most of us don't get. $1,000 per year is ridiculously low. People with "Cadillac" insurance pay more than that in two months. It is not often I say this but vets need to suck it up.

Old, you say Veterans need to suck it up. Suck what up? I think the siver spooned punks in Congress need a lesson in shared sacrifice. Called restart the draft and their kids get involved too. Once the body bags start coming home from the next war and their is a politicians son or daughter whom gave his/her life for this country. You will see a change very quickly. Now Old, I ask you again, what was a Veteran supposed to suck up?

Agree with oldVA - Bring back the DRAFT, 30 year retirements for non-combat jobs

Honest Broker

The US military has turned into a tool of Corp America Govt contractors to reap profits from pre and post War contracts. Our voluntary military personnel are seeing some lucrative pensions for taking the risk. Why do you think women want to get in combat? You get promoted and therefore more pay. Unfortunately, the taxpayer is footing the bill instead of Corp America. This economic system encourages the US to stay perpetually at War. The politicians and big business get to reap the benefits without any sacrifice. By the way, I served 6 years with 3 in combat and moved up fast so I know its no cake walk but those that stuck it out for 20 years. I was front line, but there are many jobs that had little to no sacrifice so those should require 30 years for retirement. Eisenhower warns about the Military Industrial Complex (MIC) would drive us to unnecessary War, but we did not listen. We need to go back to everyone gets drafted to get the training, but then back to civilian life when not needed.

the only good thing about TRICARE is the cost is relatively low. The service and treatment suck. Many vets go outside to civilian doctors, because military facilities are overcrowded and lacking overall.

I am a former Army brat & Navy wife, and current Navy employee and mother-in-law to an Army soldier. While I did not personally sacrifice on the front lines, I have sacrificed & given my entire life (50 years) to the military. I support them whole-hearted. BUT I truly think the military retirees need to face reality that they are receiving gold-plated benefits at ridiculously low annual costs.
Yes, I believe our military retirees should pay less for their health care than say our Federal gov't employees/retirees; but they currently pay significantly less. My current husband has no military connections & we receive our benefits through his company because he has better (cheaper) benefits than federal employee benefits. Yet we still pay significantly more than military retirees for our health benefits; not to mention paying separately for dental & vision benefits. We need the entire Government to be sustainable ... not just civilians, but our military (active & retirees) as well.

Aside from the fact that all of we retirees paid for these 'benefits' in-kind, giving our entire youths in service for our country, those who are ignorant should know recruiters were promising a retirement with pay and medical benefits for life without additional cost. We were paid minially compared to those in civilian sectors back in my day and while they paired up the military pay in the past 15 years, my retirement is very small compared to what I gave in light of the promises that in paying for Tricare, the government has withdrawn the promise after getting the service they requested.
For Chuck who is now SecDef, now nothing has changed. The promises are still the promises and the service has already been rendered. Perhaps we ought to get rid of HMOs and get our medical care the old fashioned, ala carte way. No breauecratic riches and get rid of the companies that profit from the care. It's much cheaper to go to a local doctor and pay ala carte. Tricare is generally not good care and the rules are astoundingly stupid in some cases.

As a civil servant that has seen his health insurance increase and his benefits decrease for 23 years. Who is working on his fourth year of frozen pay. Who often gets only a fraction of the full cost of living increase before the pay freeze. I have a very limited simpathy for the military that gets free housing and medical care and often gets the full cost of living increase every year.
They do have a tough job during war time, but they are paying a ridiculously low premium for Tricare services and there was never a cost of living correction factored into this system. I think the premium has only been corrected once since its creation. The increase proposed will not even effect most in the military. Even with this correction, they will be paying a fraction of what civilians must pay for care.

Chuck Hagel said "It's one of the steps DoD must take to bring its growing personnel spending under control"...BS...it has nothing to do with personnel and everything to do with the DoDs expectations. The DoD needs to plan better. Quit shoving impossible deadlines down Contractor's necks. You want something done in 1/2 the reasonable timeframe it takes then the DoD will pay for it and they do. Cut down on contractor overtime and audit these cost contracts. All these weapon maintenance contracts have fee on fee cost burdens. Get your spending under control. It has nothing to do with the workforce b/c we have been doing more with less for far too long. Why anyone would want to work or do work for the gov anymore is beyond me.
On a side note for the above comment: I'll never understand why the military gets a housing allowance inside the US. Housing is everyone's biggest bill. I'd love to have my mortgage paid for so I could do whatever I want with my paycheck.

Check out the 2011 Bad Business report from POGO.ORG and you will see that contractors cost 2 to 5 times too much. Now go take a look at who these contractors hire as consultants with bloated 6-figure salaries. Yes, our military and civilian leaders. Gosh, I wonder why DOD costs have shot up over the last couple of decades.